I am trying to avoid deep Resto and still be a great healer because I like to see my character’s humanoid shape more often than not. I was either going to go a bit down Balance to get Lunar Guidance and Dreamstate or a bit down Feral to get Nurturing Instinct. I wouldn’t think to go Feral, but 70% of Ggility gear could be a lot of a healing, right?

I was wondering if you’ve done the math on these and could suggest one path over the other.

Prior to the release of Wrath, it used to be somewhat viable to skip over Tree of Life as a Restoration Druid. In fact, one of my guilty pleasures in TBC was to run Heroics as a Night Elf in all my S2 PvP gear just because I looked so darn cool (though I kept using the form for difficult raid content). You see, while the 20% spell cost reduction was great, you could get a weaker, non-Lifebloom-affecting version from Moonglow, a talent that was formerly much deeper in the Balance tree. There were also a number of TBC encounters where staying in Tree of Life was more a liability than a benefit due to its 20% slow-movement and inability to decurse.

However, with the release of Wrath of the Lich King, we get all of the (raid-important) benefits of the form with none of its limitations. Blizzard has removed the movement speed reduction, added both Abolish Poison and Remove Curse to its arsenal of available spells, and even allowed us to cast our class buff, Mark of the Wild without leaving form (and in Patch 3.1, we’ll finally be able to cast Thorns). Moonglow has also been made much more accessible, a talent whose effects stack with the mana reduction afforded by Tree of Life. Without Tree of Life, you also lose access to Master Shapeshifter, a Tree of Life-specific talent that grants you an additional 4% healing in the form. And this doesn’t even consider cases where you are the only Restoration Druid in a raid where no Paladin has 3/3 Improved Devotion Aura, making you the only potential source of the 6% to healing aura. To summarize:

As you can see, there is no justification for not having and using Tree of Life as a Restoration Druid in Wrath. It is a spec-defining form that you sacrifice too much to avoid. As such, I cannot in good conscience recommend any spec that doesn’t include the ability (and in Wrath, there are specs that include both the form and Dreamstate). Honestly, if you’re hung up on having to look at rotten broccoli, can’t wait for the upcoming revamp to Druid forums, or simply don’t have much faith in Blizzard meeting your aesthetic standards, I suggest rolling a Priest doll to dress up. They certainly get the best looking armor and aren’t restricted to using a special form to reach their full healing potential. Of course, Druids are still way more fun than Priests, in my opinion, even if we do look ridiculous.

P.S. Nurturing Instinct is a terrible talent for any healing Druid as there are no items that have spell power and Agility on them. You would never want to purposefully wear Feral items to boost your healing if healing is your intended role.

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Mailbag: A Deforested Restoration Build?

After some discussion with a guild-mate this morning regarding which Glyphs to use, I decided to check with the tree maven for advice.  Which glyphs do you recommend for a raiding level 80 tree?  Have you done any theory-crafting around which gives the most healing benefit?

This is actually a question I get asked a lot, and I haven’t responded to it publicly because several other blog authors have done such a great job tackling this subject (see also: Keeva of Tree Bark Jacket and Bellwether of 4 Haelz). I’d say that Resto Druids are mostly in agreement about prioritizing your Glyphs, but here’s a handy dandy flowchart to help you make the decision for yourself:

The [Glyph of Swiftmend] is non-optional. The [Glyph of Regrowth] is also considered pretty standard, though there’s a chance that a Nourish-oriented Glyph may surface that eclipses it in the future. How you fill your third Glyph slot depends on whether you have issues with mana; the [Glyph of Innervate] is a tremendous boost in this regard, but an additional second on Lifebloom from the [Glyph of Lifebloom] (representing more than a 10% increase to its HPM) is also pretty nice.

P.S. I apologize for my messy flowchart. It’s really hard to fit that many decisions into so narrow a horizontal space!

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Mailbag: Glyph Choices for Restoration

Come WotLK, would Leatherworking or Tailoring be the better profession for healing, in your opinion? I’m currently a tailor because the Primal Mooncloth set was pretty nice for healing before getting some good raiding gear, but I’m considering changing to Leatherworking if it will be more useful in the expansion.

He actually sent me this question at the beginning of November. At the time, I wasn’t sure how to respond because I was under the belief that all of the items for Leatherworking/Tailoring hadn’t been released. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Blizzard has opted to change their policy on armor crafting so that these skills no longer produce skill-defining Bind-on-Pickup epic items like the Primal Mooncloth and Frozen Shadoweave sets of the Burning Crusade. Practically all of the armor that can be crafted with these skills is now Bind on Equip and can be bought and sold. What does this mean and, if there aren’t self-crafted sets any longer, what benefits do each tradeskill now provide to the healing Druid?

Crafted Armor

Assuming you’re choosing the skill for the reduced cost of items it produces, let’s compare the items each can create. Because you’re likely to graduate out of them fairly quickly, I’m going to ignore green items.

Leatherworking

Leatherworking can currently craft a total of 23 items with spell power.

The Iceborne Blues:  [Dark Iceborne Leggings] [Dark Iceborne Chestguard] 
These two items are itemized perfectly for the raiding Druid with plenty of Spirit and not points wasted on superfluous stats. Note that wearing these two pieces plus one other green from the [Iceborne Embrace] set will net you an additional 26 spell power. With the number of slots available (waist, feet, hands, shoulders, wrist, or helm), it will give you a lot of flexibility when it comes to upgrading your gear.

The Overcast Set: [Overcast Spaulders] [Overcast Leggings] [Overcast Headguard] [Overcast Handwraps] [Overcast Chestguard] [Overcast Bracers] [Overcast Boots] [Overcast Belt]
This all-blue set of items has a great balance of stats for the healing Druid with lots of Spirit and no wasted points spell crit, spell haste, or spell hit. The excess of Resilience, however, makes this clearly intended for use in PvP. Tailoring can produce a similar set called Frostsavage, but a conscientious  Druid knows to shy away from cloth in PvP.

SQUISH! [Bugsquashers]
These boots are easily on par with the two blue items from the Iceborne set mentioned above but are likely separated from them to avoid having three easily acquired blues that provide the set bonus (you have to sacrifice one slot to a green item).

The Earthgiving Set: [Earthgiving Legguards] [Earthgiving Boots]
These two items are currently the only two crafted leather epic items with spell power, appear to be itemized with the Tree in mind, and are certain to give you a leg up in heroics or Naxxramas. The recipes for both of these items must be purchased for 2 [Artic Fur] from Braeg Stoutbeard in Dalaran and each requires a [Frozen Orb] to make (the WotLK equivalent of a [Primal Nether]).

Non-Ideal Items: [Wildscale Breastplate] [Purehorn Spaulders] 
These two items aren’t itemized perfectly for the raiding Druid with itemization points on the breastplate wasted on spell crit and on haste rating on the shoulders. I’d guess these two items are intended more for our Balance brethren.

Tailoring

Tailoring can currently craft a total of 46 items with spell power. Note, however, that a number of these are geared more toward DPS casters and Holy Priests with spell crit, spell hit, and spell haste.

The Mystic Frostwoven Set: [Mystic Frostwoven Wristwraps] [Mystic Frostwoven Shoulders] [Mystic Frostwoven Robe]
This set is similar to the Leatherworking Iceborne set with three blue items instead of two (but both a 2-piece and 4-piece set bonus, the latter of which can be achieved by wearing one of the green items from the [Frostwoven Power] set). This set is heavy on the Spirit but has no Intellect. It also includes a lot of crit rating, which is not an especially useful stat to the Restoration Druid. Overall, this set seems poorly itemized and is likely to be avoided.

The Frostsavage Set
This is the Tailored equivalent to the Overcast Set from Leatherworking. It has no Spirit, a lot of critical strike rating and Resilience, and – as it’s made out of cloth – is best avoided by the PvPing Druid. PTUI!

Spiritual Blues: [Light Blessed Mittens] [Aurora Slippers] [Cloak of the Moon] [Frostmoon Pants]
These are easily craftable blues that have a nice balance of stats, including Intellect, Stamina, spell power and Spirit (or, in the case of the cloak, MP5). I’ve crafted a couple of these for myself so far, consuming Moonshroud cloth that I would otherwise be saving. I’ve already replaced one of the items with an item from a Heroic dungeon, though, so you might instead consider saving your cloth for the Moonshroud set further on.

The Moonshroud Set: [Moonshroud Robe] [Moonshroud Gloves]
These are the big cahuna items of Tailoring for healers, the equivalent of the [Primal Mooncloth] set in TBC. Like the Earthgiving pieces from Leatherworking, they are perfectly itemized for us. You will note, however, that there are only two pieces to the set and there is no set bonus like that of PMC. This will make these items less painful to replace.

The [Wispcloak]
While not perfectly itemized for a Restoration Druid (having MP5 instead of the more desirable Spirit), it is an epic item with good spell power and Intellect.

Non-Ideal items: [Silky Iceshard Boots] [Hat of Wintry Doom] [Deep Frozen Cord] [Cloak of Frozen Spirits] [Black Duskweave Wristwraps] [Black Duskweave Leggings] [Black Duskweave Robe] [Spellweave Robe] [Spellweave Gloves] [Ebonweave Robe] [Ebonweave Gloves] [Deathchill Cloak]
Given the allotment of stats on these items, they’re better for other casters than the Restoration Druid.

Monetary Benefits

By choosing a crafting skill, you’ve chosen to give up one of the potentially lucrative gathering skills. However, there are still a number of items that can be produced for profit (in addition to the BoE armor listed above).

Leatherworking

Leatherworking can craft a number of useful BoE armor kits, including the [Frosthide Leg Armor], [Icescale Leg Armor], and [Jormungar Leg Armor]. The [Heavy Borean Armor Kit] isn’t spectacular, but it’s nice for alts while they’re leveling.

Tailoring

As with TBC, Tailors can create spellthreads to enchant players’ legs, including [Azure Spellthread] and [Shining Spellthread]. In addition, Tailors can train the Northern Cloth Scavenging ability that gives them an additional chance to find extra cloth on humanoids (and Undead humanoids). This ability means Tailors will continue to acquire more cloth than non-Tailors, making it easier to level first aid or sell the unneeded excess.

Tailors can also make bags, though the introductory level [Frostweave Bag] is a popular choice for skillups and is therefore harder to sell at a profit (or break even point). The 24-slot [Glacial Bag] requires 4 pieces of Ebonweave and 4 pieces of Moonshroud, making it a valuable (but time-consuming) item to produce.

Additional Self-Only Benefits

Leatherworking and Tailoring both provide nice self-only enchants as well as items that can be used to “enchant” the equipment of other players. Let’s look at the healing-oriented options for each.

Leatherworking

Leatherworkers can apply several fur linings to their bracers (these are self-only enchants). Restoration Druids will prefer the [Fur Lining – Spell Power]. There are also versions for every resist type. It’s assumed that Blizzard will also be adding Drums like in TBC, but the recipes  haven’t been released, yet.

Tailoring

Tailors can embroider their cloaks with one of three caster-oriented embroideries. Restoration Druids will likely prefer the [Darkglow Embroidery]. They can also craft a self-only [Sanctified Spellthread] to apply to their pants, a significantly more potent version of the [Shining Spellthread] and cheaper self-only alternative to the BoE [Brilliant Spellthread].

Perhaps the most iconic self-only benefit of being a Master Seamstress is the [Magnificent Flying Carpet]. It can be crafted at 425 tailoring, and the materials are surprisingly affordable. There are more prestigious, specialization-specific versions of this mount including one sewn from Moonshroud.

Summary and Comparison

• Both Leatherworking and Tailoring have a good number of similar options for a healing Druid.
• Tailoring is a self-sufficient gathering tradeskill. Northern Cloth Scavenging will help you acquire the cloth you need to level your skill, especially if you run a lot of instances with humanoids. A leatherworker has to pick up Skinning on her main character or an alt or be willing to place herself at the mercy of the auction house. /cower
• Tailoring currently has slightly more self-only Druid-friendly benefits (one of the self-only benefits for Leatherworkers only benefits melee characters), though the addition of Drums should even the score.
• Leatherworking includes the Overcast PvP set, and the Improved Tree of Life talents make all leather armor more valuable than it would have been otherwise.
• Tailored items are typically more attractive (and more visible since Leatherworking doesn’t include an epic chestpiece), but this doesn’t matter to everyone and is only relevant outside of Tree of Life. Tailoring also comes with a sweet-looking magic carpet (beautiful Persian princess not included).

Honestly, the differences between the two professions aren’t that pronounced. I’d be inclined to recommend Leatherworking to a Restoration Druid that intends to PvP and Tailoring to a Restoration Druid who intends to have Balance as her off spec (sadly, there appear to be fewer few Balance-friendly rewards from Leatherworking). Of course, you could be a masochist like me and level both! /wildtreecackling

A Note on Leveling Your Tradeskill

To raise your skill to the level required to make a desired item, you’ll have to invest a considerable sum of money to craft items that aren’t necessarily useful to you (or an alt). In the realm of Tailoring and Leatherworking, the sooner you can raise your skill and place your excess merchandise up for sale, the better off you will be. As time passes, more players enter the market, flooding the auction house with the most easily crafted items, often selling them at a loss in order to sell them at all (I’ve found this to be the case of Imbued Frostweave Bags). At the same time, players are graduating out of this “tier” of items as they find replacements through Heroic drops, badge gear, and demand eventually trails off. This temporary increase in supply and ever decreasing demand can lead to a glut in the crafting market that will leave you “holding the bag” on raising your skill. In short, raise your skill as quickly as you can and try to craft items that are not only economical to produce but seem like they would sell. (Don’t produce 10 pairs of cloth bracers if there are already 8 of them on the auction house.)

Production vs. Gathering

In the comments below, reader Faradhim inquires:

Given that there are no longer large number of BoP items for either profession do you think there is a good reason to even pick up one of this crafting professions? Like you have observed leveling up tailoring/leather crafting is very expensive and seems like you will be able to buy just about every items you need on AH from other tailors/leather workers save spell threads and Fur lining. And there will be stiff competition from other crafters which means items is likely to sell at a deep discount.

This is such a good question that I wanted to append my response here. Since discovering that Blizzard wouldn’t be providing tradeskill-defining BoP epics, I’ve wrestled with this question myself. Am I not doing myself a disservice by choosing a production tradeskill over a gathering tradeskill? While it’s true that each gathering tradeskill provides some form of self-buff or self-benefit in addition to their obvious monetary potential, how do these benefits stack up against the ones provided by production tradeskills?

• Herbalism
  Lifeblood (Rank 6): This ability does not scale with spell power and for a class that uses HoTs, its effect is pretty negligible.
  [Fire Seed]: Makes you vulnerable to magic, but increases your spell power by 200 for 10 sec. Assuming you could chain the use of these, the benefit works out to be 33.3 spell power.
• Leatherworking
  [Fur Lining – Spell Power] replaces [Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower] (or the much more affordable [Enchant Bracers - Greater Spellpower]) and [Enchant Bracers - Major Spirit]. It’s 44 more spell power than the greater enchant and 37 more spell power than the superior one, not to mention considerably more affordable.
  Assuming that drums recipes are eventually added for Wrath, we can likely expect the WotLK equivalent of [Drums of Restoration] to be 30 MP5 or greater.
• Mining
  Toughness: All your hard work spent mining has made you exceptionally tough, increasing your maximum health by 500. Obviously, more health is always welcome even if it’s generally more useful for Feral tanks.
• Skinning
  Master of Anatomy (Rank 6): Skinning all those dead animals has broadened your anatomical knowledge, increasing your critical strike rating by 25. As a Resto Druid, I /spit on 25 crit rating. PTUI!
• Tailoring
  [Darkglow Embroidery] replaces [Enchant Cloak - Wisdom]. With a 35% proc rate and 75 second internal cooldown, the embroidery works out to be 0.79 PPM or 20 MP5. Honestly, the enchant seems better to me, not to mention substantially easier to acquire. I think adjustment to the embroidery is needed to clearly make it superior to what could be acquired otherwise.
  While significantly cheaper, the [Sanctified Spellthread] is equivalent to the [Brilliant Spellthread] available to non-Tailors.

To me, none of the gathering profession benefits seem to match up with the strength of the production tradeskill benefits (which, in my mind, is as it should be). Therefore, the most ideal situation is to keep two production tradeskills on your main character and keep an alt for gathering to supplement them. For instance, my Warlock is a Skinner and Herbalist helping Phaelia raise her Leatherworking skill and keep her stocked with potions. This has the additional benefit of doubling your return from any reputation gains that afford you new recipes.

Kaliope actually recently addressed this issue on her post To Keep or Not to Keep, THAT is the question. She seems to present the opposite point of view, so it’s definitely worth a read.

Thank you to Kehnomar for the wonderful question and for all of the information he later sent to me that assisted with writing this article!

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Mailbag: Leatherworking vs. Tailoring in WotLK

Has anyone compiled a list of green and blue level 80 gear for Resto Druids to start raiding 10s and 25s?

Paininabox of Runetotem (US) has released a spreadsheet that includes many items from Wrath, though it doesn’t include source or stat-based filtering. As such, here are some healing-oriented gear lists with descriptors. And I shall henceforth be known as "Phaelia I-Filter-WoWHead-So-You-Don’t-Have-To" or simply "Phaelia IFWSYDHT":

Items with Spell Power

• Quested: Blues | Purples 
• Reputation: Blues | Purples 
• Crafted: Blues | Purples
• 5-Man Instances (non-Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• 5-Man Instances (Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• PvE Tokens: Emblem of Heroism | Emblem of Valor
• Raids:
• Naxxramas: 10 | 25
• The Obsidian Sanctum 10 | 25
• The Eye of Eternity (size indeterminate)

Leather Armor with Spell Power

• Quested: Blues
• Reputation: Blues | Purples
• Crafted: Blues | Purples
• 5-Man Instances (non-Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• 5-Man Instances (Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• PvE Tokens: Emblem of Heroism | Emblem of Valor
• Raids:
• Naxxramas: 10 | 25
• The Obsidian Sanctum: 10 | 25

Spell Power and Spirit

• Quested: Blues
• Reputation: Blues
• Crafted: Purples | Blues
• 5-Man Instances (non-Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• 5-Man Instances (Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• PvE Tokens: Emblem of Heroism | Emblem of Valor
• Raids:
• Naxxramas: 10 | 25 
• The Obsidian Sanctum: 10 | 25
• The Eye of Eternity (size indeterminate)

Spell Power and Spell Haste

• Quested:  Greens | Blues | Purples
• Reputation: Blues | Purples
• Crafted: Blues | Purples
• 5-Man Instances (non-Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet
• Drak’Tharon Keep | Gundrak
• The Nexus: The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Pinnacle
• 5-Man Instances (Heroic):
• Azjol-Nerub: Ahn’kahet | Azjol-Nerub
• Caverns of Time: Stratholme
• Drak’Tharon Keep
• The Nexus: The Nexus | The Oculus
• The Violet Hold
• Ulduar: Halls of Lightning | Halls of Stone
• Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep | Utgarde Pinnacle
• PvE Tokens: Emblem of Heroism | Emblem of Valor
• Raids:
• Naxxramas: 10 | 25
• The Obsidian Sanctum: 25

PvP: Spell Power and Resilience

• Battlegrounds: Blues | Purples
• Arenas: Leather Armor | Weapons
• Crafted: Leather Armor

While there is considerable overlap between the most desirable stats for a Restoration Druid and a Balance Druid, I invite you to read Graylo’s guest post: Balance vs. Restoration Gear.

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Mailbag: WotLK Item List

Andurial of Alleria (US) writes in:

I thought I would give you a bit of preliminary data on 3.0 raiding (with more to come after tomorrow’s BT raid). Although my guild had intended to raid yesterday, Alleria was in the toilet so that didn’t happen.  However, we did throw together a ZA tonight to check out how our numbers were doing.  I have to say, it was mightily impressive.  The place was in the bag with 24 minutes left on the bear timer though of course there is no longer any bear to be had. [My spec is] an 8/0/53 build including Wild Growth. We were running with myself and a Discipline Priest (as apparently Disc is now where it’s at for priests who can let go of their CoH teddy bear that they cling to). As it turned out he and I were neck and neck on healing through most of the instance.

Instantly, I could tell a difference in HPS with it jumping up to about 1300 instantly and going as high as 1900!. Running with a Shadow Priest and Ret Paladin, there were no mana issues at all (which was incredibly comforting) that were not solved with an Innervate during a particularly daring set of pulls going up to the Lynx boss (including pulling the entire Lynx room and boss at the same time).  Amazingly we never wiped, only lost one player to the Lynx’s cleave and Wild Growth actually came out shining.  Now, here’s the thing.  It is a fundamental change in play style.  Lifebloom which used to do between 60-70% of my healing was now down to a roughly equal 35% with Wild Growth with Wild Growth passing on some fights like the Lynx or Dragonhawk. I also was using HT a bit (with the Glyph) for some quick throughput heals while HoTs were ticking.  All in all, I’m not hyperventilating like I thought I would be, but it’s going to take some getting used to.  I’ll let you know how it goes in a 25-man real raid environment after tomorrow and Friday.

Image credit to Eggo

Metrogon commented on An Early Thanksgiving:

I ran my first raid since the patch tonight on Mount Hyjal.  Usually the druid healers (including myself) way dominate the other classes on overall (trash) healing meters.  Tonight, however, I and the other Druid were at the bottom.  At first analysis it seems that the other healing classes got a larger boost than druids from the patch.  I used to feel useful in that instance especially, but after tonight I feel like they could replace me with a Paladin of less skill and still turn out better.   Am I doomed to respec to Moonkin to become comparably useful again in a raid?  Or am I just suffering from "learn2play_again" issues and will eventually catch up to the other classes as my skills with the new spells increase?

Keeva responded to Metrogon’s concerns on An Early Thanksgiving:

I wouldn’t worry about it too much at the moment, Metrogon… post 3.0 mobs have less health, they’re hitting for less, and there’s so much mana regen flying around that our healers were just spamming constantly (not best practice, but they were like kids in a candy store and I couldn’t very well tell them to heal less). To quote one of the priests though:

“I don’t normally spam like I did last night. With the changes to CoH, the changes to PoM, the free flash heals (awesome LOL), and whenever I dispelled someone it heals them, I was just going nuts to see what my best HPS would be.”

So basically he was going nuts, spamming everything he possibly could – I think he got something like 4000hps at one point. We can’t possibly compete with that, especially on trash. I felt wholly superfluous on Hyjal trash to the point where I stood and tweaked my mods for most of it rather than wasting my time trying to squeeze any heals in. I wasn’t missed.

Understandably, it all made me feel a bit slighted. A few days ago, I was a superstar healer in my guild; last night.. I could barely get any heals in, and even rolling Lifebloom seemed to contributing very little.

I tried not to let it get to me too much though. I think that once we get into the expansion and mana becomes a little more of an issue, when other healers won’t be able to go nuts and spam constantly, things will be a little more balanced. When we go back to having actual assignments rather than “snipe heal anyone with a health deficit yay” and/or spam group heals constantly to “win” on the meters, we will be back up towards the top of the list for effective healing.

I’d like to hear YOUR stories of raiding and/or instancing. Is Wild Growth as hawt as I’ve heard? Is anyone toying with Nature’s Splendor instead? (Sadly, I have none of my own experiences to share, yet, as I only just got my UI configured this morning!)

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Mailbag: Patch 3.0.2

My name is Thelyne and I’m a blooming Resto druid from Eonar. I’d like to know how you got this lovely blog started as I’d like to start my own! Thanks!

What an exciting question to be asked! I’m always happy to see new blogs being created, especially by other Druids like myself, and I’m flattered that Thelyne chose to ask me for some advice. Because I think a blog reader is 10x more likely to create their own blog than a non-reader, I thought I’d share step-by-step, the process of creating a blog to show you just how easy and rewarding it can be.

Step 1: Decide on a Focus

This is really important. As enthusiastic as you might be to start writing immediately, it’s helpful if you can first refine what you want your blog to accomplish. There are limitless options to the type of blog you can create. Here are just a few and examples of each:

• Spec/Class Niche: Haelz, Unbearably HoT, Yet Another Warlock Nerf, Parry! Dodge! Spin!
• Guild Leadership/Officership education: Lume the Mad, Chick GM
• Role Niche: ThinkTank, Tank Hard!
• Roleplay: Too Many Annas (though not exclusively), Blogatelle, Need More Rage
• PvP (Mis)adventures: Out of Mana
• One or More of the Above: Big Bear Butt, BigRedKitty

Step 1a: Familiarize Yourself with the Other Players in your Niche

Learn about the other bloggers who write about the same topics you do. Pick out things you like and don’t like to help you refine the plans for your own blog. Take note of their blog titles to avoid stepping on any toes with too similar a name. Familiarizing yourself with your fellow bloggers will also help later on when you’re trying to gain exposure.

Step 1b: Pick a Title

Don’t get "Trapped" by your title later on!

Hand-in-hand with your blog’s focus, you will want to choose a title that reflects that focus. Be careful here; if you choose a focus and title that’s super-specific, you may find yourself feeling restricted later on. When I created Resto4Life, for instance, I recognized that — unless I wanted to switch focus to playing a Restoration Shaman — I was pretty much committed to Phaelia. Common inspiration for class or spec-specific blog titles include talents and spells, forum-based pop culture references, and in-game places associated with that class or spec. Don’t name your blog after your character unless you’re relatively certain you won’t be switching mains or renaming them (or are considering a server transfer).

Step 2: Choose a Platform

Focus defined and prospective blog title in hand, you’ll want to pick out a space for your new home. There are several different options for a blogging platform, and I’ll discuss the most common here:

1. Blogspot.com
   This is Google’s blogging platform. It’s extremely popular among new bloggers due to its ease of use and relative customizability. Many bloggers also already have a Google account, making creating a blog a relatively simple process. Theme selection is relatively limited, but you can customize available themes to your heart’s content. Image uploading can be cumbersome.
2. Wordpress.com
   This is the company-hosted version of WordPress. Similarly easy to use. There are many different themes available, but once selected, your ability to make changes is extremely limited unless you wish to pay. Extremely limited customization.
3. Wordpress.org
   This is a downloadable copy of the Wordpress blogging platform for use with your own web host. Requires a bit of technical know-how to set up as well as paid web space and a custom domain name. Extremely customizable and flexible with practically unlimited available themes, but much more difficult to use than the previous two options.

It is not uncommon for a blogger to initially create a blog through Blogspot or Wordpress.com only to move to a self-hosted option later on when he/she is more certain of her future commitment. Resto4Life actually started out at Blogspot.com before moving to a self-hosted option. (A detailed walkthrough of completing such a migration is available here.)

If you’re pretty certain that you’ll want to be self-hosted eventually but find yourself daunted at the idea of creating a database and completing a WordPress installation yourself, I recommend choosing a web host that includes an automatic install (and upgrades) of WordPress. Resto4Life is hosted with HostMonster.com, who is not only affordable but reliable and includes one-click installs for several packages, including WordPress. They’ll also throw in a free domain registration.

Step 2a: Register a Domain Address (Optional)

This step is optional for those choosing to host their blog through Blogspot.com or Wordpress.com, but at $10 or less per year, I recommend it. Having a custom domain name lends a feeling of permanency and can make you easier for readers to find and remember. Just be careful. If you are considering purchasing a domain name, do not search for that domain name unless you are ready to purchase it. There are unscrupulous types that monitor domain searches so they can buy them up and "squat" on them to resell them for higher prices and/or to advertise on them. Also be aware that there have been some cases where squatters will purchase domain names that match the titles of blogs on Blogger or Wordpress.com on the possibility that the author will later want to purchase a custom domain.

Help registering a custom domain name is available here.

Note: Many web hosts will include a complimentary domain registration when you choose them as your web host. Be sure to check to see if this feature is included with purchased web space before registering a domain separately.

Step 3: Write, Write, Write!

The best way to improve your writing is through practice… or so I’ve read.

So you have your blog named, hosted, and created. Before you go shouting to the rooftops about your admirable accomplishment, you’ll want to shore up your concept with a few posts. Remember what you’ve learned from others sharing your blogging niche and start sharing your own thoughts. If you get stuck for ideas, you can always choose or pull inspiration from one of the Blog Azeroth Shared Topics to help get the words flowing!

Step 3a: Refine Your Style

This includes the style of your blog as well as the style of your posts. While you might have great things to say and share, if they aren’t in an easily digestible format, it will be difficult to attract and keep readers. There are a million-and-a-half recommendations on this topic, but here are a few of the easiest to implement:

1. Avoid critting your readers with a wall of text. Break up huge paragraphs which can be difficult to digest. Use special formatting like bold, italics, and subheadings to make things more readable and organize your thoughts. A couple of examples of blogs that make good use of formatting include Yet Another Warlock Nerf and Parry! Dodge! Spin!
2. Include pictures. Try to be consistent with the images you choose, be they in-game screenshots, pictures from the Model Viewer, or stock photography. For some great examples blogs that leverage images to best effect, check out /hug and Too Many Annas!
3. Use a spell checker. It’s easy. It’s free. If you use Google Bar, it is that button labeled "Check" at the top of your browser. Firefox users will find spell-check is built in to their browser, as well.
4. Categorize or tag your posts to make it easy for readers to find more information on those topics. For help learning about the difference between tags and categories, click here.
5. Give your blog a unique personality. Try to make your blog’s aesthetics and writing style speak to its focus so that you’re not only easily identifiable but memorable, too. In the words of Runycat:

   Choose a title that will make wayward porn searchers stumble upon your site.
   I cannot tell you how many keyword hits I get for " bare ass"

   Obviously, this is hyperbole (well, for most people anyway), but you get the idea. Find some way to make your blog stand out from the rest! Great examples of blogs with distinct personality that shines through in every post include Need More Rage, Big Bear Butt, and BigRedKitty.

6. Tip from Valenna: Work towards consistency in your posts, speech and tone. If you are in character 100% of the time and you switch out to talk about your real life, your readers are going to jolted.  The same applies to the way you write. If you post even-keeled, balanced posts that look at all sides of an issue and then post a rant, your readers will be surprised. Let your readers know what to expect when returning to your blog, and they’ll keep coming back.

Behemothdan of More Pew Pew, Less QQ shares a great resource for helping to improve your blog’s overall aesthetics here.

Step 3b: Grow Your Blog

Grow your blog … but hopefully not into a rust-colored fern like this one.

Once you’re happy with the content and appearance of your blog, start getting your name out there! Here are a few different ways you can do this:

• Offer to swap links with other blogs within your niche (and, of course, it’s helpful to add a link to the blog in question before asking if they’d be willing to link to you). Druid blogs can request to be added to the World Tree listing here at Resto4Life, a project designed to specifically help new and old blogs increase their exposure.
• If you write on a topic that’s similar to one written by another author, try to incorporate what they’ve already written by providing a brief quote or a link back to their original post. Many blog authors monitor incoming links, and this can be a great way to get some free link love in return.
• Join and participate in Blog Azeroth. Learn from others and share what you’ve experienced. Ask (and answer) questions. Meet other bloggers.

For non Wordpress.com bloggers, I recommend Statcounter or — for the more technically savvy — Google Analytics to help you monitor your blog’s growth (Wordpress.com includes built-in stats). Try not to get discouraged by slow growth, though. Building a blog takes both time and commitment.

Conclusion

I hope that I’ve been able to show you how easy it is to create your own web presence. I know that it can be daunting when faced with some of the more well-established blogs out there, but we all started somewhere. In fact, I’d like to share a small snippet of a chat conversation I had with Valenna back in March of 2007:

[11:26:07 AM] Phaelia: I would like to blog about being a Resto druid
[11:26:31 AM] Valenna: Make a new blog and call it Resto For Life?
[11:27:00 AM] Phaelia: good idea
[11:28:36 AM] Phaelia: I like that idea a lot.
[11:31:09 AM] Phaelia: resto4life.blogspot.com

Just remember: you’ll never get there without taking the first few steps!

Additional Resources

The number of resources available to bloggers is practically endless. For World of Warcraft bloggers, the Blog Azeroth forum is a great repository of knowledge and friendly faces willing to help you with just about anything. Additional recommended resources include:

• Lorelle @ WordPress
  Don’t let the title discourage you if you happen to choose Blogger. Lorelle’s has tons of information for bloggers of all types.
• WoWModelViewer.org
  The model viewer is a fantastic program that will let you model and take pictures of your character, creatures, and items from within the game. This can be an invaluable resource for creating a consistent style.
• Twisted Nether
  A brand new "blogcast" each week featuring interviews with other bloggers. Can be a great way to learn more about the world of blogging!
• News Sources
  MMO Champion and WoWInsider are great resources for newly-released information. Just don’t fall into the trap of simply reposting news, though. Include your own commentary and personal take on the info.

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

So You Think You Can Blog … You’re Right!

i have 3 questions. which is better a resto or balance?
Which is more fun?
and what are the abilities of each like what is a balance druid and what is a resto druid.

To answer this contact request, I’ve written a haiku (because everything is better when expressed in haiku):

I’m Resto 4 Life!
Which do you think I prefer?
WoWWiki could help.

Thanks, anonymous reader dude!

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Mailbag Haiku

Reader Tangible of Hyjal (US) writes in with the following bug report for the live environment:

I thought I’d let you know about an odd Druid bug I found today. I’d never bothered to level up my mace skill, even though I’ve used one for ages.

During the Sunfury Attack Plans daily quest, I decided I’d spend some time just auto-attacking the geologists, occasionally throwing in a Lifebloom to keep me going. However, I noticed the bloom was actually only getting me for 600. I’m currently at around 1850 +healing, but even with 200 +Healing, the final tick should be scaling past its starting value. So I killed the mob, and tried a three stack on myself. Bloom scaled without issue. That’s when it clicked in that it’s auto-attack doing so. I grabbed another mob and tried again while auto-attacking to verify.

In summary: throwing an LB on yourself while auto-attacking results in the bloom portion not scaling with your +Healing. How’s that for obscure!

I’ve heard odder things before, but I was skeptical so I flew up to the ogre area above Shattrath and tried something similar. I was unable to reproduce this issue myself, even after several attempts. I told Tangible this, asking if maybe he might have an addon that was displaying combat text incorrectly, and he was kind enough to do some more testing and provide some concrete evidence that he is experiencing this.

To ensure I’m not completely insane, I went off and did some more testing, this time with some screenshots. My character has 1887 +Healing in these tests, with a regular Lifebloom bloom hitting me for around 1500. The first two screenshots below are of me meleeing a mob, one time with the LB blooming properly, one time with it only blooming for 600. The interesting part of this is that when I was testing this originally, I never saw a proper full bloom at all. This time, I could get it to bloom properly around 20% of the time. It might have to do with the timing of the auto-attack swing.

Lifebloom Blooming at Expected Value

Lifebloom Blooming as though without +Healing

The second two screenshots are of me testing what you asked below — i.e., whether it was just showing 600 in my combat log, but actually healing me for the proper amount. I flew up high in Zangarmarsh, then dropped down, and auto-attacked a mob. I tried to get the timing as exact as possible for the before/after final bloom, but was still off, due to my larger resolution and the time it takes to take a screenshot. That said, you can still easily see the numbers add up to a 600 bloom, not a 1500-ish one.

Before	After

In the "before" screenshot, my HP is shown before the 227 tick you see has been applied (it kind of looks otherwise, with the value on my character icon fading, but it’s just fading into view — you can see it at the bottom of the scrolling combat text over my char, which moves upwards). You can look at the combat log for "after" and add the numbers up from there:

3617 HP (start) 
+227 LB
- 123 Hit
+228 LB
+228 LB
+600 LB Bloom
= 4777 HP

4777 is the value seen as my HP in the "after" shot. It’s definitely not healing me for what it should be.

Here’s my armory profile:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Hyjal&n=Tangible

Those are the items used during the testing. You’ll see in my Zangarmarsh test I gained Light’s Salvation during the attempt, this isn’t a factor (both because I can get the 600 LB to occur without any procs, and because it procced after the LB was already applied).

If you’ve any other questions, or want the full screenshots or such, just let me know. Hopefully you can manage to reproduce this issue.

I spent about 10 minutes in Zangarmarsh last night trying to reproduce this issue. Even after 20 Lifebloom blooms, I never saw a value less than 1236 (I was wearing PvP gear). I’m posting this in curiosity to see if anyone else has experienced — or can reproduce — this phenomenon themselves. After all, as Tangible points out, how often are we going to have the need to Lifebloom while meleeing something to death?

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Bug Report: Lifebloom’s Bloom Effect and Auto-Attack

I’m glad to see that our readers are still as intelligent as ever. Warscreamer of Moonglade (EU) sent in this damning examination of Ferocious Bite and I have to say… WTF, over? Tell us this isn’t right, that we missed something. Warscreamer would be thrilled to be wrong.  He’s given us permission to disclose the contents of the message he sent us.  Check it out and be sure to leave a comment.

Do you remember when I was soooooooo happy that Ferocious Bite would be scaling with current AP? Okay, so check this out:

Ferocious Bite Rank 8 35 Energy 5 yd range Instant Requires Cat Form Finishing move that causes damage per combo point and converts each extra point of energy into [9.4 + AP / 630] additional damage. Damage is increased by your attack power.   1 point: 410-550 damage   2 points: 700-840 damage   3 points: 990-1130 damage   4 points: 1280-1420 damage   5 points: 1570-1710 damage

Now do the math. Currently, I have more than 4000 AP. I can’t check it from work, but let’s assume that it’s 4000.

9.4 + 4000/630 = 9.4 + 6.3 = 15.7 AP per energy

In the BEST scenario, when you use Ferocious Bite at full energy (LOL), you will receive:

(100 – 35) * 15.7 = 1020 AP

Let’s compare this change to what’s live right now. Assuming you are level 70 and using Ferocious Bite (Rank 6), let’s say that you use it after one tick of energy (so you have something like 50 energy).

Current tooltip, Rank 6: Finishing move that causes damage per combo point and converts each extra point of energy into 4.1 additional damage. Damage is increased by your attack power.

While this tooltip doesn’t describe how the damage is affected by Attack Power, readers at Druid Wikispaces have determined the formula to be:

Total Damage = (AP * 0.15) + (Energy Spent * 4.1) + CP Bonus Damage

At a maximum of 5 combo points, the average bonus damage will be 951.5. If we assume that 15 energy is left after the 35 energy cost is expended and use the average bonus damage from a 5-point FB, our formula will look like this:

(0.15 * 4000) + (15 * 4.1) + 951.5 = 1613 damage

Now let’s look at Rank 6 of the WotLK version of Ferocious Bite:

WotLK tooltip, Rank 6: Finishing move that causes damage per combo point and converts each extra point of energy into [3.4 + AP / 630] additional damage.

Note that this tooltip explicitly states how AP is factored into the total damage output; it appears that Ferocious Bite is being changed so that AP modifies the rate at which energy converts to damage rather than the base damage. If we assume that the formula is straightforward as it sounds, it looks like this:

Total Damage = (AP/630 + 3.4) * Energy Spent + CP Bonus Damage

Applying this revised formula with the same assumptions as above, we get:

(4000/630 + 3.4) * 15 + 951.5 = 1098 damage

Even if we assume Ferocious Bite is activated at 100 Energy (65 Energy consumed), the total damage drops from 1819 to 1586.

Please… correct my math. Because now I’m crying.

While I don’t have any experience with the Alpha-version of the ability myself, if we were to assume that the previous factor of AP * 0.15 is still factored into the total damage, this would actually be a buff since it would cause the ability to scale with AP in two ways. The formula would then look like this:

Total Damage = (AP * 0.15) + (AP/630 + 3.4) * Energy Spent + CP Bonus Damage

The total damage for the revised version of Ferocious Bite (Rank 6) would then be 1698 which is not only slightly higher than what we see now but also means the ability will scale better than it once did.

Ferocious Bite is getting a nice boost to crit (talented and only against a bleeder), and coupled with what could be much higher AP totals at 80 we may be an increase in the use of this ability. Is this right? Let us know, and I’ll be back soonish with another installment of "Why does it smell like wet bear over here?" Okay, I actually intend to take a gander at Dire Cat Form, but with my usual level of superb insight and amazing deductive skill… or something. Oh hell, I think we all know that if it doesn’t look like a ball of string or a river full of salmon, I’m lost.

See you then!

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Mailbag: Fallacious Bite

I am a fellow Restoration Druid and despite Arbor Day’s passing being oh so long ago, while wandering across the wilds of Elwynn Forest I found quite a disturbing sight. A Tree was set aflame with many cheerful party-goers dancing and jesting about it! This horrified me in ways I cannot describe and prompted me to make a public service message advising anyone who happens to see a Tree to please spare him or her the flame – this goes double for those pesky Mages!

This image may be shocking to young saplings and those of us who believe Trees should be treated kindly and equally, but I believe there is no other way to teach people the horrors of such actions. It is my hope that people will see the errors of their ways and learn to treat us with as much respect as everybody else.

Thanks, Gelaende! It’s always nice to see a little intra-spec love between Feral and Restoration.

This St. Patty’s Day, why not celebrate your arboreal nature with a Resto4Life Tree Shirt? Now through March 12, U.S. residents can save 17% on all orders $25 or more with code MARCH39 (Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39).

Mailbag: An Important Message from Gelaende